Butler, Bill

A Cheyenne Legend

London, England: Turret Books, 1972. First Limited Edition. Sewn Binding. “wolves / coyotes / all the wild / animals crept up to feed / and Crow / […] / flew over / […] hopped by / […] / got away just once / they killed him then / strung him over the fire” (abridged qtn. from A Cheyenne Legend). A volume of poetry by Bill Butler (1934-1977), the famed American-expatriate bookseller & publisher. The work is unique and somewhat hard to characterize. For the setting it unfolds within, and the plotline it pursues is filled with reference to Native American characters and scenes. This, of course is nothing new in the wider context provided by the New American Poetry: and more often than not is recognized by Beat readers as a serious and scholarly topic; something best handled with grace and solemnity in both indigenous & non-indigenous hands. Writers like Gary Snyder (b. 1930) and Thomas Rain Crowe (b. 1949), for instance — as well as many others like them, that hail from the Beat literary tradition writ large — famously endeavored upon a study of these cultures & their folklore. This task was carried out with the utmost scholastic verve & seriousness: with the mind of a scholar and the manners of a diplomat. The comparative informality of Butler’s verse interrupts this line of thinking. The result is a curious book of poems authored by a man who died too soon to be widely understood. Despite this early exit, gaining a sense of this work (and of Butler) is both worthwhile & possible; and we encourage Beat readers to buff up on their history with respect to this trailblazing publisher of Obscenity Trial Literature: a ‘genre’ that The Beats (and their friends, like Butler) are known to have practiced, promoted, perfected and protected; sometimes at the cost of their freedom, and their lives. From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed mate in the UK who managed the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England with Bill Butler (1934-1977, the famed American-expatriate bookseller & publisher). From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, Unicorn proffered & published many outstanding productions by William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see an example with our item no.s 8217, 8366). After prevailing against censorious harassment efforts, Unicorn closed & Butler died in short order. Cupidi went on to found the Public House Bookshop in Brighton, which had a long & successful run but is also now closed, & he still resides there. We have been honored to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining treasures of Unicorn & Public House, some of which have become the stuff of myth. Large-format chapbook in sewn wrappers: “[…] designed and / printed for Turret Books by Richard Moseley / at Graphic Workshop/Brighton [sic] in an edition / of 300 copies, of which 100 are numbered and / signed by the author. The text is set in 14 point / Century and printed on Glastonbury Antique / Laid paper,” per colophon. While A Cheyenne Legend first appeared in an issue of Allen De Loach’s (1939-2002) Intrepid Magazine (& was also published by one other outlet presently unknown to us, which Butler cites in an untitled author’s note directly preceding the first page of verse), it appeared for the first time in book form here, through Turret Books, London in 1972. In strong near fine condition with generally mild-to-moderate rubbing, shelf-wear, & some light bumping & attendant bump-creasing to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge; minute-to-mild exhibits of spotting, as well as related age-toning (of a similar type & gradation) variously present throughout; otherwise, quite clean, as the pictures suggest with interior unmarked. Near Fine. [Item #8362]

Price: $45.00